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Beyond Emotional Contagion: How Sensemaking Shapes Reactions to Digital Outrage on Social Media

Type: article

Abstract: Social media has become a common digital platform for venting moral outrage, an intense feeling of anger and indignation triggered by perceived injustice or immorality. Understanding how observers respond to such outrage has important implications for users, targets, and platforms. Prior research suggests that emotionally charged content spreads via emotional contagion at the collective level, but these effects may not hold at the individual level. Integrating Tripartite Reactions to Emotions (TRE) theory with sensemaking theory, we propose that observers engage in sensemaking by evaluating the rationality of outrage expressers. A negative appraisal of this rationality may prevent individual observers from developing their own feelings of outrage and thereby counteract the contagion of outrage and associated information sharing. Across two experiments, we find support for this cognitive-emotional mechanism. Our findings advance understanding of how individuals respond to digital outrage, and provide theoretical and practical implications.

Source: Journal of the Association for Information Systems

Authors: Xu, Zheyi, Kong, Dejun Tony, Jiang, Lin, Yin, Dezhi

Institutions: Auburn University, University of Colorado Boulder, University of South Florida

Language: English

Topic: Public Relations and Crisis Communication

Subfield: Communication

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDG: Peace, justice, and strong institutions

Open Access status: green

OpenAlex ID: W7222988492

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